Clutch for power-winches.



A T PRESCOTT CLUTCH FOR POWER WINCHES- APPLICATION r1150 JULY 3. 1911.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

v14; ATTORNEYS To all whom it may concern ARTHUR T. PRESCOTT, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE H. FROTHINGHAJNI COMPANY, YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

' c u'rcn ron-rownn-wrncnns. 1 a

i aaaaa "Be it knownthat I, ARTHUR T. PREsoo'rr, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutches for Power-Winches, of which the following is a specification, reference being a had to the accompanying drawings, forming 10 apart thereof.

My invention relates tails of construction and combinations ofvparts, including an.'overload safety release mechanism for connecting the parts in driving relation in one (llIQClilOIl and pos tive means for connecting the parts when moving in the other direction, whereby the parts will slip under an excess load in one direction of drive but will not so slip in the other direction 'of drive; and in order that my invention may be fully understood 1 will now describe a structure constituting 'an'embodiment thereof, having reference tothe accompanying drawings illustrating the same, and will then point out the novel fea-' tures in claims. 7 o

1 In the drawmgs: Figure 1 1s a view in cento clutches, and par-- ticularly to a type of clutch for a winch tral longitudinal section of safety and uni-- direction clutch view in partial transverse vertical section of the uni-direction clutch shown in Fig. 1.

13 represents the shaft of a driving motor (not shown) and is arranged longitudinally in line with the operating shaft. 14 of a driven mechanism such as a winch. Between 1 the adj acent ends of the shafts13-and 14 is an over-load safety clutch 18 and a uni-direction clutch 19'. i The safety clutch 18 comprises a cylindrishaft- 13, a' hub 25 secured fast to the shaft 14, and'a plurality of alternately arranged mechanisms constructed in accordance wlth my inventlon. .Flg. 2 1s a 24: secured fast to the a spring 29 being disposed between a hub 30 carried by the casing 24 and the said head 28, whereby the said head is normally forced toward the plate-27 .to press the disks into intimate frictional engagement. An operating head 31 is mounted upon the hub 32 of the head 28 by which the head 28 may he moved in a direction away from the plate 27 to relieve the endwise pressure uponthe disks and hence to release them from frictional engagement, when desired. The parts are shown intheir normal position in the drawmgs, thespring being free to exert its pressure uponthe clutch disks to press them together. The tension of the spring is regulated by the position of the head 30 which head is made adjustable for the purpose of adjusting such tension tothe required degree. If'it is desired to release the clutch -the operating head 31 is moved .to the left as viewed in Fig. 1, to thereby compress pring 29 which otherwise forces the fric tion disks '26 together.

The clutch mechanism just described (and I Specification of Letters Patent. 'p m t mw g, 1 5, Application filed July 3, 1911. Serial1\To.636,657.

it may be here noted that other forms of clutch mechanism may of course be used in lieu thereof, if desired, the form shown in the drawings being a conventional representation ofthe well-known Hele-Shaw clutch now on the market) forms a driving connec- I tion through which alimited amount of power. may be transmitted, and after the limit of its capacity has been reached, such capacity being of course determined by the strength of the spring 29 and the adjusted position'ofythe head or hub 30, the clutch will permit slipping between the parts whereby should the motor gontinue to run and turn the shaft 13 after the shaft 1 L has reached the limit of its movement, no harm will be done.v In other words, say, for

instance, that the device is interposed be-c, tween an electric driving motor'and a mooring winch and is employed for mooring a ferry boat in place in its slip, then if the cable from the winch drum be connected with the ferry boat'and the motor started, a failure to stop the motor when the boat is in the limit of its position and the rope is all friction disks 26 disposed between them. taut,'will not result in a breakage, strain,

disk or'plate 27 secured to,

"These disks are'disposedendwise between a -or other damage of the part's,=, the motor or formed as a merely continuing to exert a uniform tension part of, the casing 24:, and a head 28, a upon the mooring cables, v

' direction,

'- the same is being action between the teeth of the worm and worm wheel, may so jam the parts'as to require a relatively greater power to release them. For this purpose I have provided a positive drive connection over the safety clutch through which the power of the motor will be transmitted to the driving shaft when operating in a reverse direction. This positive driving connection is here shown in the form of a uni-direction or ratchet clutch and comprises two .pawls 40 carried by. a flange 41 of the casing 24 p (which it will be remembered is connected fast with the shaft 13), and a notched flange or ratchet 42 which is secured. fast to'the shaft 14.

The relationship of the pawls with the notches .or teeth of the ratchet or flange 1s.

such as to provide a positive driving connection when the motor is driven in a direction to unwind the cable on the winch drum,

' and to slip freely when the motor is running in a direction to wind u the cable thereon. Thus, in the direction fbr winding up the. power is transmitted solely through the friction clutch, while in the opposite direction the power is transmitted through the friction clutch and the pawls of the uni-direction clutch. The uni-directional clutch however does not come into action unless the-friction clutch slips. Such a connection ismotor of the type employed may be temporarily overloaded to a considerable extent, whereby sufi'icient power will be readily provided for positively releasing the parts, while at the same time such a motoreing which there will be a hammer-like blow of normally arranged to run under less load an economy of operation results. It will also be noted that in the particular construction shown there are but two notches or teeth in the flange or ratchet so that in any event there is likely'to be some movement of the motor before it picks up itsifull load. During this first movement the driving connection will tion clutch, and if the parts are jammed so that that clutch will slip there will be no movement-of the shaft 14 until the pawls shp mto place. When they .do thus take hold there will be the additional momentum of the parts carried by the motor shaft 13 b either direction of articularly eflicient in its combination wit the electric motor because an electric of course be through the fric-' the pawls against the ratchet, all of which will help to start the parts in a direction to release them, and of course once started less and less power will be required to cause them to continue their movement. It will alsobe noted that the construction of the device, as a whole, is very simple and that there are but few parts, and those but little likely to get out of order. The casingas a whole incloses and protects the parts, and the casing is also preferably in such form asto retain oil so that the working parts may run in oil. a

What I claim is: 1. The combination with a reversible driving shaft and'a driven shaft, of a safety overload clutch for connecting said shaft in rotation, self-acting means for positively connecting said shaft in only one direction of rota-tion and for throwing the safety overload clutch into action.

2. The combination with a reversible driving shaft and a driven shaft, of a safety overload clutch for connecting said driven shaft with the driving shaft when the driving shaft is running in either direction, a self-acting clutch for positively connecting the driven shaft with the driving shaft when the driving shaft is running in only.

1n one direction, manually actuated means for controlling said clutch, and an automatically actuated positive f connecting, means for connecting. the drivenshaft with the driving shaft when the driving shaft is running in the opposite direction.

4. The-combination'with a reversible driving shaft and a driven shaft, of a self-acting positive uni-direction. clutch between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, a friction clutch also between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, and a manually actuated device for controlling the action of the friction clutch.

5. The combination with a driving shaft and a driven shaft, of a positive automatically actuated uni-direction clutch between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, and a manually actuated friction clutch also beween the driving shaft and the driven shaft.

6. The combination with a driving shaft and a driven shaft, of a safety overload clutch between the driving shaft and the driven shaft, and a connecting device operative when the driving shaft is running in y one direction having means for providing for lost motion between the a limited amount of 1,155,555 I Hi1 driving shaft and the driven shaft and positive operative connection between said thereafter a positive driving connection. shafts, and means for releasing the spring- 7. The combination With a reversible drivactuated friction clutch. ing shaft, a driven shaft and a self-acting ARTHUR T. PRESCOTT. 5 positive uni-direction clutch for connecting Witnesses:

said shafts, of a spring-actuated safety-over- D. E. DEUTSOH, load friction clutch for establishing a non- A. C. DAVIS. 

